


Out of the Hands of Safety

by PersonablePerson



Series: We Never Needed Tethers, Only the Tide [3]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Arrow (TV 2012) Season 1, Barry Allen Works For The SCPD, Barry Merlyn, F/M, M/M, adopted barry, pansexual Barry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-13
Updated: 2018-10-13
Packaged: 2019-08-01 09:14:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16281815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PersonablePerson/pseuds/PersonablePerson
Summary: There are a lot of people who seem to believe that when you’re young, your life is the least complicated it will ever be. Barry’s not entirely sure that’s true. The older he gets, the answers to all those abrupt questions that get thrown at him day to day seem so much simpler. Maybe it’s the level of experience. The realization that things are going to go wrong, that you can’t plan for everything, some things are just out of your hands. One can’t always just act, but when you can act you act. So when someone he’d convinced himself he would never see again suddenly appeared back in his life, back in his brothers life. He knew he had to act and the knowledge that he had to act came above all other complications Oliver Queen carried with him.





	Out of the Hands of Safety

**Author's Note:**

> Whoa boy I've kept you waiting a long time so I'll keep this as short as possible. Long-term I still plan on getting through season 3 of the flash timeline wise. I'm not sticking to canon nearly as much as I planned to (and that wasn't much to begin with). This chapters unedited, I'll edit it tomorrow afternoon as I've got a major headache at the moment but I didn't want to keep you all waiting any longer since I did promise it would be up tonight. So without further ado I give you chapter one...

There are a lot of people who seem to believe that when you’re young, your life is the least complicated it will ever be. Barry’s not entirely sure that’s true. The older he gets, the answers to all those abrupt questions that get thrown at him day to day seem so much simpler. Maybe it’s the level of experience. The realization that things are going to go wrong, that you can’t plan for everything, some things are just out of your hands. One can’t always just act, but when you can act you act. So when someone he’d convinced himself he would never see again suddenly appeared back in his life, back in his brothers life. He knew he had to act and the knowledge that he had to act came above all other complications Oliver Queen carried with him.  
So the night Oliver Queen returned was the same night Barry returned to the Merlyn home carrying enough bags for an extended stay. And when Tommy came home that night buzzing after having dinner with his wayward best friend Barry sat with him while he watched the endless news coverage over Oliver’s return and chatted away. Knowing and understanding Tommy’s need for reaffirmation that what was happening was real was one thing. But he didn’t for one second rethink his resolve, he knew Oliver would bring trouble to them all in the long run. If anything, the feint sniffling and reddened eye’s Barry respectfully ignored, assured him that he needed to protect his brother.

His resolve only grew stronger the following day when Tommy and Oliver were kidnapped in broad daylight. Though he’d been persistent Detective Lance refused to allow him to be present while he interviewed. Realistically he knew it was to be expected, CSI’s belonged at the crime scene. The fact that there really wasn’t anything to be found only served to frustrate him further.

  
Later that evening he came home to Tommy in full party planning mode he didn’t really need to ask what the party was for. He just ordered a pizza and kicked back watching while Tommy bustled about making phone call after phone call to make last minute arrangements at his favorite nightclub.  
Not long after the pizza arrived Tommy dropped down into his seat at the kitchen island and helped himself to a slice.

  
“I take it Oliver’s ready to start making up for lost time?”

  
“It’s going to be huge Barry, the biggest party Starling’s seen since…” he paused clearing his throat.

  
“You know, you’re really good at this whole party planning thing, has it ever crossed your mind to make an actual business out of it.”

  
“You mean carry a clipboard and binder everywhere, and learn the difference between taupe and mauve? Plan a couple weddings.” Tommy snorted stuffing his face.

  
“If you wanted to. You’re a visionary Tommy, some of the stuff you’ve pulled off over the years... I mean you’ve been planning parties for the richest people in Starling for ages, why not get paid for it?”

  
A simple “huh”, which Barry translated to, ‘I’m done with this line of concentration’. So he changed the subject once again.  
“So are we still going to pretend that I didn’t catch you and Laurel on a date last week?”

  
Barry half expected Tommy to shoot his question down when Tommy stood from his seat but was pleasantly surprised when instead of leaving the room he burst out “We’ve been dating for a month.” Well pleasantly surprised may night be the right way to describe the way he chocked on his pizza but he was happy for his brother.

  
“What the fuck? How did I not know this?”

  
“She- we didn’t want anyone to know just yet.”

  
“She didn’t or you both didn’t?” His brow furrowed in concern.

  
“We both didn’t. At least at first.” Tommy was pacing now his shoe’s were starting to scuff the floor a bit.  
“And now you do want people to know. But she doesn’t?”

  
“I don’t know if I do. It’s just, going to get a lot of attention. And we just got it together. And it’s great, once people know it’s going to get complicated. Especially now that-.” He cut himself off rubbing his hand down his face.

  
“ It’s okay to be conflicted about it all you know? I mean it’s not exactly an everyday type of situation. And if it helps, I think everyone wants to avoid their relationship getting complicated. It doesn’t make you a bad person to want to protect what you have with Laurel. It’s going to get complicated, but I think after everything you’ve been through if anyone can handle crazy levels of complicated it’s you and Laurel.”

  
“Thanks Barry.” Tommy smiled crookedly. And Barry smiled back reassuringly, his brother deserved happiness, and so did Laurel. He’d also watched them do there little back and forth dance for too long to watch the chicken out now when they were so close.

  
“Shit, I just realized, have you even seen Oliver since he’s back?” It wasn’t all that difficult for Barry to hold back a grimace, he’d had a lot of practice.  
“No not yet-.”

  
Tommy barely let him finish speaking before he was insisting that he had to make sure he got the night off for the party.

  
“Call out sick or something.”

  
“I’ll see what I can do.”

 

The night of the party Barry tracked Oliver with his eyes but he’d definitely been avoiding him all night since their first greeting. To an outsider it might have seemed like a friendly re-meeting. But even Adam picked up on a subtle terseness in the way Barry asked after Oliver’s health and Tommy shot him a befuddled look before pulling Oliver away for his first tequila shot in years. Barry snorted a bit at the thought. God knew what Oliver had really done the last couple years but he’d intended to get some answers that night.

  
Unfortunately it seemed Oliver had other plans.  
“Did you see where Oliver went?”  
“Barry-.”  
“I swear he was just right fucking there.”  
“Barry-.”  
“Shit, where’s Laurel?”  
“Mr. Merlyn.”

  
Barry’s head snapped towards Adam in an instant.  
“Never call me that again.”

  
“It got your attention.”

  
“I just pictured you talking to him like that and-. I’ll never get the image out of my head.”

  
“How about you replace it with the image of us taking a few jello shots and then hitting that dance floor. Seeing as that’s what I pictured when you invited me to a party.” Adam raised his eyebrow.

  
“Or you can keep stalking Queen, I’m not offended believe me he’s pretty sexy. But uh-. “ He reached one hand forward and pulled Barry towards him wrapping both hands around his waist he lent in to whisper in Barry’s ear though he still ended up practically yelling when the music shifted to something even louder. “At least dance with me first.” He accentuated with a smooth grind before pulling back and moving to walk away. Barry groaned not being able to resist one last glance around for Oliver but when he still didn’t see him he followed after Adam who was already dancing in the midst of the crowd.

  
Temporarily giving up his search for Oliver he let himself have a little fun. And if he continued to keep a subtle eye out Adam didn’t notice. At one point out of the corner of his eye he noticed Tommy and Laurel talking by the bar, he noticed the way they were looking at each other even though they were trying to be subtle and couldn’t help smiling to himself a bit.

  
His smile quickly turned to a frown when he jerked to alertness at the sudden lack of blaring music. His confusion grew even further when he heard Oliver’s voice above the crowd offering a reward to anyone who could catch the green hood. While the rest of the crowd cheered Barry’s eyes narrowed. At his side instead of behind him where he’d been for the last 10 minutes Adam didn’t seem too amused either. The moment he caught sight of detective Lance Barry started towards the just to catch the tail end of their argument. His heart stuttered a bit at the words coming out of Lance’s mouth.

  
“Did you even try to save her?!”

  
He didn’t let himself pause though as the other officers were already trying to usher him away.

  
“Detective Lance!”

  
He turned to face him crossing his arms.

  
“The flu huh Allen? And here I was thinking you’d finally gotten better at choosing your friends.”

  
“What’s going on?”

  
“Adam Hunt was attacked just across the street. By the green hood.”

  



End file.
